Switzerland, St Moritz

We reached St Moritz around noon and we only had four hours to spare before we had to hop back on the last train. In that short time frame, the most rewarding activity in St Moritz is to take a stroll along its beautiful lake.

Like a painting, the scenery was a stunning blend of snow, lake, forest and mountain. Look at that yellow building that sat perched atop a small hill, I wish I could rent a room there some day to enjoy the view from its window.

Most parts of the lake was frozen but the water was very clear. We wanted to visit the Berry Museum nearby, but it was closed. It's such a pity because there were a lot of good reviews about the museum.

These were some photos of the houses I took along the streets. I thought the architecture was nice and there was a nice garage on the ground level. Looking at this photo again, I am somewhat envious of its owner for owning such a handsome house.

This was another house I took before we bought some souvenirs. By then, we were quite hungry so we parked ourselves for lunch in a restaurant. We opted for vegetarian and wondered whether the food here was any different from Italian.

Jas was feeling adventurous so she ordered the spinach gnocchi while I still wanted to have something familiar. I ordered the grilled aubergines sandwich instead. Well, the spinach gnocchi came and it looked like it was totally gooey and soaked in rich cream. It must be an amazing course to others but I'm glad I chose to stick to my grilled aubergines sandwich, with extra cheese and tomatoes. Yum Yum.

We snapped several photos in front of the exclusive Badrutt's Palace Hotel, before deciding to walk to the lake again to admire the natural surrounding.

See this banner? It's the banner for the Alpine Ski World Cup! We didn't know that the World Cup is held here. This was really a day of discovery for me, a day where my senses were overloaded with beautiful sights, feel, smell, taste and sound.

The Bernina Express

We thought of spending a day or two in Switzerland but finding cheap lodgings was difficult. Eventually, we made plans to visit St Moritz during the day and then return to Tirano in the evening. Taking the UNESCO World Heritage route via Bernina Express, we were glad that our exploration includes a rail adventure up the mountains.

The train climbed from 429 m to 1775 m, which is the highest adhesion railway in the Alps and one of the steepest adhesion railway in the world.

I was excited back then because this was my first time seeing snow-capped mountains with my own eyes. Not only the mountains, I also get to see wild gorges, icy glaciers, soaring bridges and loop tunnels throughout the entire journey. 

And the view from the window...

Spectacular and speechless!!

I have never seen natural snow in my life because it's a tropical climate all year round in Singapore so I took quite a number of snowy landscapes. I wanted to capture them in my memory and because of this, both of us cannot sit still while on the train. We were truly glad that we were the only passengers in that carriage.

Here's a picture of the snow melting under the morning sun.

We passed by many small towns on the Alps. Somehow, this town perks my interests because it reminds me of something. Something which I usually see in Christmas movies.

Seriously, I thought it looked like a town where you would want to celebrate Christmas. Well, in reality, Christmas was really two weeks away so it was no wonder why I thought of Christmas.

Finally, we reached St Moritz. The whole journey took us about 2.5 hours. My next post will be on St Moritz.

Italy, Tirano

We set off to Tirano, a small town in Northern Italy on our fourth day. This town has only about 9,100 inhabitants and it's adjacent to the Switzerland-Italy border.

Travelling via the Trenitalia Train, we were pretty excited because it was an opportunity to get away from the city and explore the countryside. But most importantly, I'm all out for some tranquility and quietness, with picturesque view of incredible nature. Also, with the unpolluted environment around me, I felt like I could breathe easily here.

Photo taken from: http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg

The temperature was much colder in Tirano, which was perhaps why most people tend to stay indoor. But the town was really neat and the people were friendly.

Walking down the streets, I love how homely the homes in Tirano looked like. The people living here were truly blessed because they could wake up everyday to see a splendid view of the mountains. 

We took our time walking without any itinerary in mind. Most of the shops were closed because I think it must be lunch time. We then stopped by in one of the restaurants for a meal.

Tea from St Moritz, Switzerland. I like how tea was presented here.

To me, the safest menu that could never go wrong is fish and chips. Unfortunately, the fish was kind of dry and salty. The plate of funghi penne with generous serving of cheese, however, turned out to be the best pasta we had ever tasted. Yummy.

We chose an accommodation that face the Adda River. Really glad that we chose to stop by in Tirano although there was nothing much to do. But I did feel very relaxed here.

I noticed that the town had a closely-knit community. When we were in a cafe for some hot milk, people coming into the cafe greeted one another warmly, followed by a few updates on how they were doing. Even though those were spoken in Italian, I sort of know the friendly gestures people had for each other. It was liberating to see this.

The attraction in Tirano is the Madonna di Tirano. We wanted to go in to take a look at this medieval building but there was a ceremony going on and we didn't want to intrude. It looked like a wedding but I'm not that sure.

Coming up next is our destination to St Moritz. This time, we are going up the mountains.

Italy, Milan's Shoppers

Shopping in Milan is so different from Singapore. In Singapore, I can casually go into a shop and pick up any items to look at. I don't even feel guilty if I don't buy them because I'm just browsing through.  

However in Italy, I feel like I really need some serious cash to enter a shop. It's like a culture in Italy to buy what you had shown interest in. I did feel kind of pressured when the salesperson came around, but parting with my hard-earned money on items with exorbitant price tags proved to be even more difficult. Having said that, I must admit that I am not much of a shopper.  

In Italy, high end boutiques like Prada and Louis Vuitton hired their own security guards. The guards looked like CIA agents in black Italian suits and shiny shoes. They looked really stern and had eyes that never seemed to miss a beat. They even wore ear phones to communicate with one another. Frankly, I found the guards a lot more interesting than all the branded goods on display. Hehhe.. 

At the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Jas bought a Prada and an LV wallet for her friends. Unlike Jas, I chose to deny any request list because it's troublesome. However, the experience of buying those wallets had me comparing Prada with LV. Overall, the hospitality in Prada seemed a notch higher than in Louis Vuitton (LV).

The structure of this shopping mall was breathtaking. It is one of the oldest mall in the world, opened somewhere in the 1880s, and it has that classy look where the royalty goes to shop. Seriously, I can imagine how the king of Italy used to walk along the mall with his large entourage of servants in the olden days. 

If I were to describe the mall, it consists of two adjacent streets covered by an arching glass and a cast iron roof. And along the streets, there were mosaics portraying the coats of arms of different cities in Italy. Over at the top near the dome, there were also paintings in recognition to Italy's great painters. The mall looks very modern to me despite its age and it's certainly something that will never get old with time. 

In the photo, Jas was standing on the famous Turin's mosaic. See the bull in the mosaic? According to the Italian's beliefs, placing the back of your foot on the bull's genital and turning three times will bring you good luck. I did not know how many times we turn. Well, according to our own logic, it's supposed to double or triple our luck. Hahha... we're a pair of nutcase.

Another expensive street with retailers selling haute couture, jewellery, and paintings. 

We were on our way to the supermarket when we came across this car. It's big but it's only a one-seater.

That's all for our second day in Italy. We just spent our day walking down the streets after we visited the Duomo. I wanted to buy the AC Milan soccer jersey for my dad and brother but it didn't materialise. On the fourth day, we set off to Tirano via train in the morning.

Italy, Duomo di Milano

We were fascinated when we saw the Duomo because it was our first time seeing such a humongous, Gothic structure. Built in 1386, it actually took nearly 6 centuries to complete the building!! You can imagine how many generations of engineers, architects, sculptors and stone cutters all over Europe were involved. Amazing. 

In Italian, the word "Duomo" means cathedral church. We visited the Duomo twice in a row as we wanted to explore its interior and climb up to the rooftop.

Photo credit to: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:876MilanoDuomo.JPG

Here's a better photo of the Duomo.

The Duomo di Milano is the fifth largest Catholic cathedral in the world; the first is the St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. While we were there, there was a conservation work done to maintain the Duomo's marble. Not an easy work I would say because every part of the Duomo is a piece of artwork and it has really very high ceiling.

Just look at the facade of the Duomo. Elaborate and detailed. No wonder it took so long to complete.

Photo credit to: http://www.africanwanderlust.com/2012/07/places-duomo-di-milano-italy.html

The interior of the Duomo is very large and dark. Luckily, there were small openings at the top where the sun rays could come in.

There were many stained glass windows in the Duomo. And each part is meant to tell a story, just like a pictorial book.

This was found near the crypts. There were some candles already lit up by visitors. 

The final resting place of a priest...
There were actually quite a number of crypts in the Duomo. 

It was kind of freakish to see the crypts but I see that it's a common practice in Italy to display crypts of dead monks and priests. I only found out after I got home from the trip that there's another church nearby named San Bernardino Alle Olsa. This church was well-known to visitors because it had its walls stacked with skulls and large bones. 

Climbing up to the rooftop, we saw more statues, spires as well as gargoyles. The visit to Duomo kind of ended our morning.

We met a friendly staff on our way down. He said 'hello' in many Asian language, but we actually didn't know that he was talking to us until he said 'konichi wa'. We looked up and found him looking thrilled because finally, he got a response from us. The situation was cute especially when he said, 'Ah.. Japanese'. And I didn't want to disappoint him so I greeted him back in Japanese. Sometimes, making someone's day is a reward in itself.